Fiction and creation
Reflecting on Rosendale’s treatment of sacramental kingship in Henry V, it occurs to me that a sacramental theology that highlights the effective fictionality of the sacramental signs is more consistent with the doctrine of creation than the notion that sacramental signs have some inherent virtue of their own or the notion that sacramental signs are ineffective.
The view that the signs are the things or that signs have some injected or inherent power misses their fictionality.
The view that because signs are signs they have no power misses the power of fiction.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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